Chapter 4 - the transfers that should never have existed
By dawn, I had slept אולי twenty minutes.
At 5:18 a.m., Daniel called.
His voice was calm, but more alert than usual.
“Maya, don’t respond to any of them yet.”
I sat upright immediately.
“What did you find?”
“One of the flagged transfers wasn’t just unethical,” he said. “It may be fraudulent.”
I opened the file while he spoke.
There it was.
A $12,400 transfer from a line of credit I did not remember opening.
The digital authorization contained my name.
My signature block.
My employment information.
My salary.
But I had never approved it.
“That’s not mine.”
“I know.”
He paused.
“There are three more.”
I stared at the screen.
Over the past year, Ethan had not only leaned on my income.
He had apparently been using my information to secure additional credit.
Some funds paid Beatrice’s overdue property taxes.
Some went toward Julian’s auto balance.
One, astonishingly, had covered a luxury resort deposit for a so-called “family wellness retreat” Chloe had bragged about on social media.
All under my name.
All without my full consent.
At 6:02 a.m., Ethan appeared at my apartment door.
He pounded hard enough to rattle the frame.
“Maya, open the door.”
I didn’t.
He kept talking.
“You’ve made your point. Open the door.”
I stayed silent.
Then his tone changed.
“You can’t just destroy everyone’s lives because you’re angry.”
I almost laughed.
Destroy their lives?
No.
I had stopped financing them.
That was different.
Eventually he texted.
Mom’s mortgage payment bounced.
Julian’s card is declining.
Chloe has an event tonight.
What the hell did you do?
Not one message asked about the slaps.
Not one said I’m sorry.
At 7:15 a.m., Daniel emailed the first formal fraud dispute notices.
He also attached something else.
A document request from Ethan’s employer.
They wanted clarification on who had authorized several reimbursements submitted through his department over the last six months.
I stared at the amounts.
The dates.
The vendor names.
A pattern emerged immediately.
Boutique hotel.
Luxury clothier.
Car service.
Private event deposit.
Expenses Chloe and Julian had likely enjoyed—but listed under business-adjacent categories.
Ethan’s greed had not stopped at me.
He had started treating any account within reach as available.
Then Arthur called.
I answered because I wanted to know something.
Had he known?
His voice shook.
“Maya… did Ethan really hit you?”
So that was the first time he chose to ask.
“Yes.”
A long silence followed.
Then:
“I didn’t know about the credit applications.”
But he had known enough to sit there while it happened.
And that mattered too.
Before hanging up, he said one thing that chilled me.
“Beatrice is saying if you report any of this, she’ll tell everyone you’re unstable and vindictive.”
I looked at the bruise forming on my cheek in the hallway mirror.
“Let her try.”
Then Daniel sent one more message.
A bank investigator had already reviewed the timestamps.
At least one disputed application had been completed from inside Ethan’s family home while I was documented to be in another state for work.
That meant proof.
Real proof.
May you like
And someone from the bank wanted to speak with me in person.
Cliffhanger: Maya now had evidence of fraud—but Ethan’s family was already planning a counterattack, and Beatrice was preparing to turn the victim into the villain.
Related Stories
